Behind the Scenes
by anotherOUATwriter
Summary: Acclaimed movie director Regina Mills is in need of a stunts person and so happens to be that Emma Swan is the best one in Hollywood. / SQW day 1: Celebrity AU
1. Chapter 1

Regina Mills was a perfectionist and that's what made her a renowned director. She planned everything down to the last detail. She thought about ten possible scenarios for each decision she made, and then, she thought of solutions to each case. Some would call her "anal," but being "anal" had gotten her two Oscars and seven Golden Globes.

Regina Mills was a perfectionist. That's why when Emma Swan, the woman applying for the position of stunts woman, showed up late, wearing a wife beater and messy, blonde, curly hair flying haphazardly, Regina was more or less than impressed with her.

"Miss Swan," Regina acknowledged her as she skimmed through the blonde's resume, as if she hadn't read the paper more than twenty times before choosing Emma Swan to come in for an interview. She probably knew of the blonde's professional life by heart.

"Please call me Emma," Regina raised her eyes from the paper to look at the other woman. Emma was smiling at her and it made Regina's heart race in a way that could only mean trouble.

"Miss Swan," she repeated herself. "Tell me something about you," she commented, "Something that you didn't include in your resume."

Emma drummed her fingers on the table, a habit that Regina had always hated. "Everything important is in there."

The movie director laced her fingers and leaned on her elbows, studying the blonde. She looked anxious under Regina's scrutinizing gaze, as if she was afraid that Regina would sacrifice her to the gods of Hollywood. She almost reassured Emma that everything would be alright, but then the blonde smirked at her and Regina felt irritation rising up inside of her. She breathed in, refusing to show that she was annoyed.

"Why did you enter the stunt business?"

"It's not a very interesting story." Emma shrugged in a very unladylike manner. "As a kid, I was always doing crazy things with my brother so I lost the fear of getting hurt. When I grew up, I figured it would be a great way to pay my way through college and I loved it so much that I decided to keep on doing it."

Regina looked down at the piece of paper. There was nothing on it about Emma that didn't annoy her, but she had impressive performance experiences in big productions. She had great recommendations from actors and directors. Regina would be stupid if she didn't hire Emma. The character Emma would be filling in was a warrior princess who had a lot of dangerous scenes that the actor had refused to do unless they were simplified. But Regina decided the action scenes needed to stay and thus, a stunt double would be necessary.

And so, Regina reluctantly decided to hire Emma.

It seemed as if Emma was good at her stunts as she was at annoying the brunette. The blonde had a great working ethic; she would come to the set earlier than required and practice her scenes over and over again until she had mastered every move. Unlike her interview with Regina, Emma had been punctual for all her shootings and it took her few takes to finish with her scenes.

However, the blonde seemed to find pleasure in annoying the brunette director by just being there. She'd stay longer so that Regina wouldn't eat lunch alone. She would bring coffee to the stressed director. She would help with the setting and give her unwanted opinion every time she could.

"Don't you have any other things to do, Miss Swan?"

"Nope," Emma already replied with a sweet smile that gave Regina a toothache.

The blonde didn't stop at hanging out with Regina, not even when she was completely discouraged by the director. Emma would always find a way to turn Regina's snaps and mean comments around. Regina hated to admit it and she'd probably never say it out loud but she had grown used to have the blonde around. More than that, she had started to look forward to have lunches with the blonde and listen to her antics.

Emma had valiantly fought her way into Regina's heart. Regina's producer and best friend, Kathryn would tease her about it, referring to Emma as "Regina's knight in shining armor." But what had started as a joke suddenly scared Regina because her mother had always taught her that love is weakness. And what she started to feel towards Emma felt a lot like love.

As the filming started to come to an end, Regina found herself torn between being weak and telling Emma about her feelings or being strong and never seeing her again. She couldn't be weak, not when she had a career to think about, even though, at the moment, she didn't care too much about her bright future.

So, the brunette reverted back to her old self: distant and cold. And Emma noted the change and tried to talk to Regina, figure out what happened but she got nothing but stony silence. And it broke Regina's heart to see Emma give up on the fledging romance between them. But why wouldn't she? She had tried her best throughout the whole filming. She was patient and kind, and after so much progress, Regina went back to square one without even giving any explanation.

Emma's last day on set came sooner than Regina had hoped. The blonde's last scene was a tricky one for which Emma had been practicing for a long time. It started with Emma riding a horse at full speed, then she had to jump to another moving horse, flip around and ride backwards as she shot arrows at her enemies.

As soon as Regina yelled "Action!" in her director's chair, she gripped the armrests until her knuckles turned white, her stress levels skyrocketing as she saw Emma darting on

her horse and jump towards the other one. Regina knew Emma had rehearsed the scene; she knew it was almost like muscle memory for the blonde. But still, she worried.

Then, it happened.

And Regina's heart stopped as she saw Emma being knocked off the running horse and falling onto the floor. She didn't yell any directives. She just started running, yelling for Emma. Behind her, some of the cast followed her towards Emma, one of them carrying the first aid kit.

Regina reached the fallen woman first, she slid on the floor as close as she could without moving the blonde's body, especially the neck. "Emma!" It came out as a sob and it was the only thing she could say. All of her bottled up emotions were constricting in her chest, impeding her breathing. She was asking if it had been worth it, rejecting Emma for her career.

And the answer was no. Now that she looked Emma, unconscious on the floor, she realized that all the Oscars in the world would never compare to Emma.

"An ambulance is coming!" Someone announced and Regina didn't comment on it. She just leaned in to place a kiss on Emma's forehead.

"You'll be alright," Regina whispered against Emma's forehead before kissing it again before letting the paramedics take Emma away.

* * *

 _Happy Swan Queen Week!_

 _As some of you might know, I'm a moderator for SwanQueenWeek's tumblr which means this year I won't be as active on my writing. However, if you guys like this story I might continue it after SQW is over._

 _Hugs,_

 _Mara_

Prompt taken from meetcuteprompts on tumblr


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for the amazing feedback! Honestly, I was taken back by the interest!

* * *

Emma sighed when she heard the doorbell ring. Ever since she was released from the hospital after a three week stay, everyone from her family had been constantly coming by to check up on her, as if Emma wasn't on the road to recovery and wasn't healing properly

She was fine.

Well, fine. The fall left her with a concussion that was starting to get better and a broken leg, but other than that, she was really doing great. The doctors told her she could be by herself as long as she took her pain medications, went to her check ups, and monitored the symptoms as they come up.

Her parents had a spare set of keys, so it was not as bad when they came over because she didn't have to open the door for them. But David, oh God, he decided to come over every two hours or so to see if she was alive and well. It was a little bit irritating. He refused to take Emma's keys because she needed to keep them, just in case. And so, Emma had to open the door for David every single time, and she hated it, especially because the crutches hurt her armpits as she walked.

She reached the door at the same time that the bell rang for the second time. So impatient! She thought as she rolled her eyes while reaching for the door knob.

"What do you -," her words trailed off as she realized that the person at her door was not David but the one and only Regina Mills, "Oh, it's you."

"Hello, Miss Swan."

"So, we're back to you calling me Miss Swan."

Emma left the door open and turned around to sit on the same couch where she has been spending the past few days. The doctors told her that while she could walk, she shouldn't do so for long periods of time. They also told Emma that her leg should be elevated to prevent swelling. Regina took it as an invitation so she let herself in and closed the door behind her.

"It's nice of you to finally come by," Emma commented as she sat and pointed her cast, "You were not at the hospital."

It was a lie. David told her that Regina visited every day while she was in an induced coma. She only stopped coming by when the doctors said that Emma's brain swelling had gone down and that they would take her off her sedatives. And while she was happy that the brunette had been there, it hurt to know that she was not important enough for Regina to visit once again after she woke up from the coma.

"I - " whatever excuse Regina was about to make died on her lips. "The editing is mostly over. The audio is the only thing that really needs fixing. The movie should be done in few weeks," she explained as she sat in a couch that was across from Emma's.

"Great," the blonde said, looking through the window. It was not that she wasn't happy, she worked hard on the movie and she wanted it to be a big hit. But part of her hoped that Regina would have come to visit her to talk about her, not the movie.

"We took off the scene," she pointed out and Emma knew immediately which scene they were talking about, "And we left that scene where you are hanging from the pirate's ship, I know you -,"

Emma interrupted Regina, "It's not that I don't care. But did you really come to talk about the movie?"

Regina looked at her, with her warm brown eyes, and Emma left like she was drowning in a pool of hot chocolate. "No," the brunette admitted.

She didn't add anything else, but the confession was enough for Emma who just looked at the brunette and said, "Good." A smile followed after the word and Regina mirrored the expression.

Then, silence reigned the room. Regina's eyes moved around the room, taking in everything she could. Regina studied the countless picture frames with faces of people Regina remembered from the hospital and countless objects that didn't follow a common theme, such as a red toy car next to an elephant figurine. She wondered what was the story behind those two objects.

If this would be a movie set, she'd have designed this room for a warm yet messy person. Someone who loved her family and friends as much as they loved her. Someone who collected a million of useless things because they held sentimental value. The room was one hundred percent Emma. Her eyes landed on the blonde, who was looking at her with an amused smile.

"I wanted to visit you, once you woke up," Regina confessed after a while, "But film studio was pressuring to have the film finished as soon as possible. I tried explaining the circumstances, but you know how it is. The show must go on."

"It's ok." Emma said, almost in a whisper, her eyes shifting to the window once again. She took a deep breath and then looked at the movie director, "David told me you came by and visit while I was unconscious. It just hurt that you didn't come by once I was awake."

"I know and I'm sorry."

An awkward silence continues between the ladies.

This one was shorter and was broken by Emma. "So, what's next for the great Regina Mills?"

Regina chuckled, "I'm taking a break."

"You are?" Emma asked in a shocked tone, because she never expected a workaholic like Regina to take a break.

The brunette nodded and looked at the empty space next to Emma, silently asking permission to sit there. The blonde understood the question and quickly tapped the place that Regina wanted to occupy.

"I - I'm not great with relationships. They are always doomed to fail. So I pushed you away, trying to protect myself," Regina said once she was sitting close to Emma, "But when I saw you fall, when I saw you unresponsive, laying on that bed. I was angry at myself, at my way of thinking. I realized I'd rather have you, and being happy, even if it's just for a second than living a safe life without knowing if we could have work it out. Because Emma, this past year with you, has been one of the best years of my life. And I don't want it to be just a year, I want it to be for as long as we manage."

Emma's eyes started to tear up, because Regina's words were so raw and beautiful.

"So, when they told me you'd be alright, I went and pushed everyone to work hard, to finish faster," she remembered the all nighters she pulled with her crew members. "I still have some work to do, but it's not much. And when that's over and done with and when you're fully healed, we'll do anything your heart desires."

"Anything?" Emma asked as her eyes filled with unshed tears. Happy tears.

"Anything you want, darling."

Emma laughed. "Darling," she repeated the word. No one had ever called her darling. "I like it." the blonde admitted. Then, she raised an arm, inviting Regina to scoot closer. The brunette didn't argue with that and gently pressed her upper body to Emma's. Regina kept on talking to Emma about how terrible her editing days had been without Emma's coffees, food, and unwanted opinions.

They didn't realize they were dangerously close to passing out. They didn't hear Emma's parents open the door and letting themselves in. The parents found their daughter asleep with a smile on her face and a petite brunette wrapped around her torso like a koala. Emma's parents looked at each other knowingly and after placing a blanket over both slumbering bodies, they quietly left the apartment.

\- F I N -


End file.
